Yahoo Sport 
PREMIER LEAGUE 2015/16: Who will finish where and why - part 1
Yahoo Sport looks forward to the new Premier League campaign and predicts which teams will succeed and which teams will struggle
Manchester United have led the way for a second successive summer in the Premier League spending stakes.
But after the 2014 vintage of Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao proved to be £79m misfits and £30m teenager Luke Shaw spent more than half the season out injured, Reds boss Louis van Gaal will be hoping his similar 2015 outlay proves more successful.
At least he has the Champions League to aim for this year.
Failure to make the group stages, however, might prove fatal for the Dutchman as Thursday nights buried on ITV4 in the Europa Chumpions Cup is hardly the place for the likes of Schneiderlin, Depay and Schweinsteiger, who are probably used to the fourth evening of the week being spent on snapchat selfies rather than getting psyched up to face Fram of Reykjavic in a hailstorm – on astroturf at 5pm UK time.
DONE DEALS: PREMIER LEAGUE TRANSFERS THIS SUMMER
However, the world does not begin and end at Old Trafford – there are 19 other clubs with hopes and dreams, so how will they fare in the 2015-16 Premier League season?
Over the next three days, Yahoo will preview the season and predict who will finish where – and why.
So, alphabetically, here are the first seven teams…
ARSENAL
Nobody really fancied the Gunners to launch a serious title bid and the fact that manager Arsene Wenger finished one above the “mark of success” fourth spot is a triumph in itself.
However, Wenger’s capture of Chelsea keeper Petr Cech just might prove to be the signing of the season.
Arsenal keepers have, since David Seaman left, been erratic and prone to the sort of errors you would expect from someone who had won the right to pull the shirt on at a tombola.
But Cech is the real deal. He won the lot at Chelsea, 13 winners’ medals in all, and at 33 still has a good few years left in him.
He is going to be worth at least an extra 10 points a season for the Gunners as well as a star man in the Champions League so that £10m price tag could turn out to be a snip.
They have class in every department and with the Cech-Factor, they will get better.
Last season: 3rd
Predicted finish 2015-16: 2nd
ASTON VILLA
The FA Cup Final capitulation is now just a memory as is the sight of Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph clad in claret and blue.
Belgium striker Benteke’s 49 goals from 100 Villa appearances was a useful return but in reality he was living off the remnants of an explosive first season with the club and has not been same since then.
He was Juan Pablo Angel in reverse…
More worrying for the fans was the departure of Delph to Manchester City for a meagre £8.5m.
This leaves a huge hole in the midfield of a team who only avoided relegation by one win following Tim Sherwood’s injection of enthusiasm when all seemed lost.
Sherwood’s real work starts now but for all his passion and the fact he did a good job with Spurs, the premier club in England’s second city will find the going tough without Delph.
Former Manchester City Micah Richards is a good man to have on board but serving up defensive midfielder Idrissa Gueye to success-starved season ticket holders is like giving a starving dog a rubber bone. Delph he ain’t, proven at Premier League level he ain’t also.
If winger Scott Sinclair can show the sort of form he did on loan last season and Gabriel Agbonlahor relish in the role of main striker, Villa just might keep their head above water.
But expect them to keep their head above the parapet – and have it blown off.
Last season: 17th
Predicted finish 2015-16: 18th
BOURNEMOUTH
On the opening day of the Football League season in August 2008 – just seven years ago – the Cherries were preparing to entertain Gillingham in League Two on the opening day of the season.
They were also facing a 17-point deduction after financial problems. Local derbies with Poole and Weymouth loomed large.
It took them 15 matches to wipe out that deficit and only after a 3-3 draw with Grimsby on November 21 did Bournemouth actually have a point on the board.
Yet they stayed up after appointing club legend Eddie Howe as manager on January 19, 2009.
Three promotions later, the south coast minnows are ready to mix it with the big fish after winning the Championship last season and netting an incredible 98 goals.
The experts feel that the Premier League might be one step too far for Howe & Co – as do the bookies.
But as Leicester did last season, Bournemouth will escape the drop this time.
Canny signings like Sylvain Distin and Adam Federici will add experience at the back while £8m record man Tyrone Mings will literally be a huge presence at the heart of defence.
The return of Max Gradel is also a huge boost – the Ivory Coast attacker was a huge favourite in his first spell seven years ago.
Howe’s brand of exciting football will always create goal-scoring opportunities – it just depends if the likes of Matt Richie, Callum Wilson and Yann Kermogant can treat the defenders of Stoke, West Brom and Sunderland with the same disdain they did Birmingham, Rotherham and Fulham.
Last season: N/A
Predicted finish 2015-16: 15th
CHELSEA
The champions have had a fairly quiet summer in the transfer market but manager Jose Mourinho raised a few eyebrows when he shipped in Radamel Falcao on loan for a "bargain" £190,000 a week, some £70,000 a week cheaper than Manchester United had him last season at Manchester United.
Four goals in 29 games for the Reds saw his anticipated permanent move from Monaco collapse but Mourinho, looking to replace the (once-again) departed Didier Drogba, had some cash to splash.
The Colombian could prove a deadly partner for Diego Costa and it is hard to see anyone toppling Chelsea from top spot – unless Mourinho levels the playing field and starts Juan Cuadrado every time.
The Colombian cost in excess of £26m last season but his sole contribution was to win a penalty against Sunderland in the final match.
Keeper Asmir Begovic is a more than able deputy for Thibault Courtois but Stamford Bridge will seem an odd place without Petr Cech – expect the big Czech to get a rapturous welcome when he returns with Arsenal to go with his runners-up medal.
Last season: 1st
Predicted finish 2015-16: 1st
CRYSTAL PALACE
The team of the 80s have finally found their decade and now begin a third successive Premier League campaign.
They have had a salad of managers in the past two years but Alan Pardew seems to be the perfect fit – and he is now talking about getting into Europe.
The signing of Yohan Cabaye from PSG for just £10m is an inspired piece of work from Pardew and provides an excellent base to build on last season’s 10th place finish.
Loan signing from Chelsea Patrick Bamford was a revelation at Middlesbrough last season and if he can click in the top flight, not only will he usher Palace towards the mega TV riches ahead, he might persuade Jose Mourinho to give him a go at Stamford Bridge.
How effective the likes of Connor Wickham and Bakary Sako will be in attack remains to be seen.
Ex-Newcastle boss Pardew made an immediate impact at Selhurst Park and all relegation worries were effectively banished within four matches.
Expect the Eagles to stay safe again and maybe enjoy a cup run.
Last season: 10th
Predicted finish 2015-16: 11th
EVERTON
While illustrious neighbours Liverpool keep on shelling out in their quest for Europa League success, Everton boss Roberto Martinez has his eyes on improvement.
Free signing Tom Cleverley is still trying to prove his worth after being shown the Manchester United (and England) exit door and he will be working with a better squad than he did when at Aston Villa last season.
And signing Gerard Deulofeu permanently from Barcelona after a season’s loan is a popular move.
But the Toffees were a let-down last season and should be finishing higher than 11th and certainly above than the likes of Crystal Palace.
The Goodison Park fans are a patient lot but even their loyalty was tested last term.
If John Stones and Romelu Lukaku are sold the blue half of the city will be even bluer - with them they should improve this time round but they lack consistency and will not break into the top seven.
Last season: 11th
Predicted finish 2015-16: 8th
LEICESTER
After last season’s remarkable escape, Leicester boss Nigel Pearson deserved the freedom of the city but instead was awarded his P45.
Admittedly, relations beween Pearson and the club’s owners had been fraught but once safety in the promised land had been secured, at least bygones could be bygones.
Sadly for Pearson, and Foxes fans, THAT end-of-season “goodwill tour” sex/racist video that saw three players – including Pearson’s son James – sacked by the club proved the final straw.
Enter new boss, Claudio Ranieri, manager of Chelsea for four years and Roman Abramovich’s first sacking. Hugely popular at Stamford Bridge, Ranieri got the Blues into the Champions League and his departure was met with genuine sympathy.
However, as good as Ranieri might have been then, his recent work has been less impressive – his last job saw him sacked as Greece manager after losing to the Faroe Islands.
His first press conference saw him at his cryptic, amiable best where he said his aim is to bank one more point than last season.
That’s just as well because the Italian has just one notable honour to his name: The 1999 Spanish Cup while in charge of Valencia, to add to his host of minor promotions, semi-finals and finals.
He will have to use all his famed “tinkering skills” to prevent Leicester going down and although he will find the likes of Jamie Vardy, Leonardo Ulloa and David Nugent willing goalhunters, if he does not get the best out of record signing Andrej Kramaric he will be tinkering his way all the way to the Championship.
Last season: 14th
Predicted finish 2015-16: 20th
TOMORROW: LIVERPOOL, MANCHESTER CITY, MANCHESTER UNITED, NEWCASTLE, SOUTHAMPTON, STOKE CITY, SUNDERLAND
